Snowbrains.com: A new snow blog from Tahoe

Slope Dope started here on SFGate.com with a simple premise: Let’s write news you can use for Bay Area skiers and snowboarders.

For the most part, that includes favorite places to stay and play in the Lake Tahoe region — north, south and otherwise. Weather is a regular feature. And we always love talking food. Our interactive map on favorite places to eat on the way up and back to Tahoe is still one of my all-time favorites.

The way we saw it — and see it — was this: Snow journalism is chock full of guys and gals hucking off cliffs and jumping out of helicopters. Last time I checked: Most of us don’t do that stuff.

So, we started a blog for the rest of us. And it’s been pretty successful. In terms of competition, we’ve always give a healthy nod to folks like OnTheSnow.com, a solid Bay Area-based snow blog that we consider a friend.

We also love the work done by discount ticket sites like Liftopia.com, based here in San Francisco. And we always kept a spot in our hearts for the folks at unofficialnetworks.com, a network of snow blogs that catered more to lifties and huckers than Slope Dope ever could.

Well, now there’s another voice in the NorCal wilderness. Former UnofficialNetworks editor Miles Clark has launched a site based in Squaw Valley called SnowBrains.com. It reminded us a little of Slope Dope’s humble beginnings in that Clark says he wants to get away from the same ol’ ski porn videos that populate so much of the snow journalism world these days.

“The potential for original, intelligent articles and fun content with SnowBrains.com is enormous. The vast majority of skiers and snowboarders are highly educated, hold professional jobs, and are looking for stimulating snow information that will challenge them and get them thinking,” said Clark, in his introductory remarks about the site. “While endless videos of big mountain shredders hucking cliffs has its place, today’s skiers and riders need more than that. They want content that they can relate to and articles that get their brains working and spark conversations. Whether it’s snow-science articles, original ski videos, industry news or intelligent, thought-provoking articles, the niche for a website that meets these demands is wide open and SnowBrains.com is poised and ready to fill it.”

Well… alright! Go get ‘em Miles. The mountains are big enough for all of us. Here’s hoping SnowBrains can add to the conversation, on both the fun side and the news side.